Of Scraps, Apples, Shoes, and Doorknobs
by dawnindanite
Summary: "Those, would be numbers thrown at me from classmates and so-called friends." Prequel to Of Skirts, Pencils, Books, and Ties. James/Katie. Jatie


A/N: This is the prequel to _Of Skirts, Pencils, Books, and Ties_ because J.L* asked for it.

Thanks so much for supporting OSPDT!

Disclaimer: I do not own Big Time Rush

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"Here," Katie dropped a pile of scraps of paper onto James before dropping onto the white leather couch next to him.

James frowned, picking up one of the scraps. "What is this?"

Katie crossed one of her arms across her eyes. She pointed the other one at the pile. "Those, would be numbers _thrown_ at me from classmates and so-called friends. Ugh, even Tiffany Polanski shoved me her number to give to you. Tyler came to visit the Palm Woods, and accidentally let loose that I was Kendall's little sister. Remind me to kill him."

James laughed, pushing the phone numbers off him. "Who? Kendall or Tyler? Besides, didn't they already know, considering you guys share the same last name, and all the interviews you helped us do?" He asked, referring to the publicity that Katie took part in when Big Time Rush first started to gain exposure.

"Tyler, and for the most part, the Palm Woods is littered with new blood. Hardly anyone there knows my relationship with you guys." Katie moved her arm and looked pointedly at James. "You should know all about that."

James chuckled and sidled closer to Katie, swinging an arm around her. She squiggled in her seat until her head rested comfortably on his shoulder. "Are you still bitter about us moving out?"

Katie raised her head, so that she could look up at him. "Yes," she answered squarely.

"You know, we told you that you could come with us."

"Yeah, I clearly remember Kendall telling mom that it was time that she stopped treating you guys like babies and let you live on your own," Katie grumbled, looking at her fingers. "Without us tagging along."

"Okay, so Kendall didn't want you to move in with us, but," James raised Katie's face by hooking a finger under her chin, "I did."

James had unintentionally leaned in, causing Katie to blush. She turned her head again to look straight across, instead of into his hazel eyes. Katie remained nestled into his side, enjoying the warmth.

James cleared his throat, "And, look at it this way, you can now date anyone you want without Kendall breathing down your neck and three other twenty-two year olds snooping on you."

Katie smiled, "It wasn't so bad."

She heard him scoff.

"Okay, it was bad."

They both laughed. James began lazily tracing his finger along her arm. "So, is there anyone that we should be snooping on?"

Katie rolled her eyes and pushed herself off the couch, and headed to the kitchen to grab a snack. "Don't you know the answer to that already? I'm fairly certain you guys have been stalking me on every social network there is."

"Only Carlos does that. He's just afraid that some old geezer will come and sweep you off your feet and taint your innocence."

"Taint my innocence? Where do you come up with these things?" Katie bit into an apple and chewed on it pensively, before swallowing. "You know, if what you're saying is true, maybe Carlos is spying on me because he's on the lookout for someone else."

James stood up and walked over to her, "What? You mean Kendall? 'Cause I thought that was obvious."

Katie shook her head, "No. Well, yes, but I meant, maybe he's spying on me 'cause he knows that someone likes me."

James' face blanched. "Wha−what makes you say that?"

"I don't know," Katie shrugged, "girls are always watching their friends' crush to find out more information, in case there's competition. Don't guys do that, too?"

"Pfft, no!"

Katie shrugged again, "Meh. I wouldn't have minded. Some of your friends are hot."

James widened his eyes, "Excuse me? All of our friends are _our_ age. That's way too old for you, you're sixteen." He flung his arms in the air haphazardly. "That would be illegal!"

Katie smirked, leaning onto the counter. She took another bite from the apple and took her time chewing, enjoying the sight of James squirming. "So, you're telling me, that you're not going to call any of those numbers, there," she pointed to the pile of scrap paper she had tossed onto him, earlier. "Because you're too old for them?"

"I'm not calling any of these numbers," he huffed, before scrambling to grab said scraps, "because I'm not interested." He threw the pieces of paper into the trash bin. "And, yes, I'd rather like not to be considered a pedophile for dating a younger girl, no matter how pretty."

"So, you would go out with a girl if she was younger than you if you were interested and there was no chance of you being charged for a felony?" Katie smiled slyly.

James crossed his arms and stuck his nose in the air. "I've never considered it."

"You're lying."

"How could you tell? I mean, nuh-uh."

Katie giggled, tossing the apple core into the compost. "Your voice raised an octave, you couldn't look me in the eye, and your give-away was the shuffling of the feet."

James sighed, and dropped his arms. "How many crime shows do you watch?"

Katie grinned, and pulled him back to the couch. "A lot. I'm doing research for my acting career. Did you know, I was considered to play a corpse on that show−"

"Oh, yeah," James nodded, "Kendall told us. What happened, again?"

"They said I looked too young to play a stripper."

"You are too young."

Katie stuck out her tongue, before smiling deviously at him. "So, who is she?"

"What?"

"The younger girl you have a crush on!" Katie cried, exasperated with his lack of concentration. "Do I know her? I bet you I do."

James looked at Katie warily. "Can we not do this? Look, I was going to work out before you came, and now you've distracted me." He stood up and headed to the home gym. "Ow!" James grabbed the back of his head, and rubbed it furiously. He turned around to glare at Katie in astonishment. "Did you just throw your shoe at me?"

The petite brunette returned his glare with her arms crossed, and one shoe missing. "Yes," she answered bluntly.

"Katie!"

"We were having a discussion, and you rudely left in the middle of it, so come back here and finish it," Katie remarked. "And, I still have another shoe where that came from."

James sighed audibly, before relenting. He grumbled on his trip back to the couch.

"What was that?" Katie asked, seating herself down again.

James bent down and picked up her discarded footwear. "I said that you can be so bossy."

Katie grinned, "I like to call it, persistent."

He sat down at the edge of the couch, rolling his eyes. He held out a hand, "Foot."

James heard Katie giggle, before her shoeless foot was in his grip. He slid the runner back on. Katie giggled again, before manoeuvring her way back into the crook of his arm, so that was once again, they were in the position where they started.

"Okay, mister. Start describing. I wanna try and guess who she is," Katie demanded, grinning.

James remained silent for a while, so that only their breathing could be heard. "She has long brown hair and the largest, deepest chocolate eyes you could imagine. You could stare into them and give in to whatever she wants. She also has this crazy amazing smile that lights up the whole room, and the cutest laugh."

Katie's smile dropped slowly, listening to the emotion in James' words.

"She can wear the simplest outfit and still look like a princess. She's so beautiful, and she doesn't even know it. But what really gets me, is her personality. She's such a fighter, always going after something until she wins, and she's got enough wit to outsmart us all, including Gustavo." James let out a small chuckle, "I could go on all day about her."

Katie sat up slowly, shifting away from James. She twiddled her fingers for a minute, before looking at him. "James," she began to ask quietly, "are you in love with her?"

James let out a shaky breath, before returning her gaze, "Yeah, I think I am."

Katie felt like something had her heart in a vice. She stood up and began shuffling around, looking for her belongings.

James stood up along with her, "Katie?"

"I, um, I gotta go. I just remembered, mom..." Katie ran a hand through her hair, feeling unusually frazzled.

"Katie."

Katie shook her head, and quickly made her way to the door. "I'll see you later, 'kay?"

James called out after her. "Katie, wait."

She stopped in her tracks and listened as his footsteps came closer. She closed her eyes when she felt him grip her shoulders to turn her around, making her drop her bag.

"Katie, I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear," James spoke quietly.

Katie shook her head vigorously, staring at his chest. "No," she gasped out, "no. You shouldn't have to apologize for being in love."

"Yeah, but it's clearly bothering you," James answered. "I don't even know when it happened, it kind of snuck up on me one day. But, I can always force it to go away if it means that I won't lose you."

Katie looked up at him in shock. "James, you can't just give up because of me. You're in love. You have to go out and get her, it doesn't matter what I think."

James frowned, "Doesn't it?"

Katie frowned along with him, "No. What are you talking about?"

"I think it clearly matters what you think considering you're the one I'm in love with."

Katie's jaw dropped. "You're in love with me?"

"Who did you think I was talking about?" James questioned, giving her an amused smile.

"Honestly, I wasn't exactly listening to what you were saying. I was only paying attention to how you were saying it," Katie replied. She grinned up at him. "You're in love with me?" She asked again, much more enthusiastically.

"I think I am."

"Oh," Katie continued grinning, raising a hand to play with one of his shirt buttons.

"Well?" James asked, after a moment of silence.

"Well, what?"

"Do you like me, too?"

"Oh." She said again, as she raised her other hand to fiddle with the same button as the other. "There may be a high possibility of that." She answered into his chest.

James sighed, lifting her chin. "You're not going to make this easy, are you?"

Katie smirked, "When have I ever made things easy?"

James chuckled, lightly. "I'm going to kiss you now. Is that cool?"

"I don't know. Are you cool with it? I mean, I am underage." Katie saw the hesitancy in James' eyes. She moved one of her hands to his cheek, reassuringly. "Look, would it help if I told you that I'd actually prefer it if we keep this between us, at least until you won't be considered an old lecher for dating me?"

"So, we secretly date until you're eighteen?" James asked, slowly.

Katie shrugged, "If we last that long. Let's face it. You really like girls and I've barely experienced life." She sighed, seeing his frown. "But, we'll try to make it work, okay? I think that's the best promise I can give you."

James nodded. "Okay, I can live with that. Now can I kiss you?"

"I don't know, can you?"

"Ha ha. Very funny. I forgot to laugh." James rolled his eyes.

Katie giggled, "I think you just d−"

The words died in Katie's throat as James gently placed his lips against hers. He tentatively moved his hands from her shoulder down her back so that they rested on her hips. Katie reached up to wrap her arms around his neck when she felt his movement.

Katie pulled away, giggling.

James looked at her, confused. "What?"

"James Diamond just kissed me."

James smirked, "I knew you had a crush on me."

"Obviously, do you think we would be in this situation if I didn't?" Katie looked at him pointedly.

"Touché."

Katie rolled her eyes. "You're lucky you're cute."

"You know, I get that a lot." James smiled, leaning down to kiss Katie again.

Katie was too busy suppressing the noises that she seemed to be emitting, while James was too busy trying to get Katie to make those noises, to notice that the front door had opened to the house.

"Holy Everything-That-I-Thought-Knew," Kendall gasped out, gripping tightly onto the doorknob.

Logan and Carlos came running in, unaware of their friend's frozen state. Carlos was chasing Logan who had grabbed hold of his beloved helmet.

Katie and James pulled away from each other, once they realized they had company.

Logan widened his eyes. "What's going on here?" He dropped the helmet to the ground.

Carlos slapped his thigh and cheered, running over to slap James on the back in a congratulatory manner.

James tried to get his Latino friend to stop his excitement with pointed stares and jerky hand gestures. Unfortunately, Carlos was oblivious to his friend's distress.

"Oh man, you finally told Katie about that wet dream you had?"

James slapped his blushing face with his palm.

Kendall, still hanging onto the doorknob, made gurgling sounds.

"Excuse me?" Katie asked, completely stunned by the news. "You had a wet dream about me?"

"It was just once! Well, a couple of times...a week. But, it's not like I'm a pervert or anything. I'm a guy, these things happen! It's not like I can control what I'm dreaming. It's really a compliment, right? Maybe?" James hurriedly stumbled out.

Katie giggled, blushing, "Relax, I think it's kind of cute."

Kendall made another strangled sound by the door.

Logan sputtered, holding up his hand. "Can someone explain to me what is going on here? Did we just walk in on you two _kissing_?"

"We're kind of going out now. We've just established that we like each other." James wrapped an arm around Katie's shoulder.

They all heard Kendall squeak.

"What? When did this happen?" Logan let out a nervous giggle. "This can't happen. It's not right, you're like her brother! She's so much younger. This is illegal, well, not quite, but almost!" His eyebrows going stir-crazy with every added sentence to his speech.

James cocked his head, "This isn't illegal?" He looked down at Katie, "This isn't illegal," he said happily.

"Wait, I wasn't finish," Logan interrupted. "It's not illegal if there's no..." he glanced at the statued Kendall by the door before continuing, "indiscretions in the bedroom."

James furrowed his eyebrows, "Excuse me?"

Katie rolled her eyes and pulled his head down to whisper in his ear. James' eyes widened after the translation.

"Oh. Oh! Dude, that's so not happening until she's of age. Even I have more sense than that."

Carlos squinted at James, "You really can wait that long?"

James slapped Carlos in the back of his head. "Yes!"

Katie giggled, but pursed her lips at the sight of her brother. "So, you think he can still hear us?"

Logan placed a hand under his chin. "It's hard to say. He stopped making those awkward sounds."

Carlos walked over and waved his hand back and forth in front of Kendall's face. "Wow, he really isn't moving."

Logan joined Carlos. "We better get him inside and try to get him to breathe again."

"His hand is stuck to the doorknob!" Carlos yelled in frustration.

Katie sighed and walked over to the door. She stood in front of Kendall and clapped her hands together, curing her brother's paralysis.

Kendall gasped, pointing viciously between Katie and James, "You. Him." He hardened his stare and stomped over to James, who stood frozen in fright.

Logan and Carlos sidled up to Kendall's side, ready to hold him back. Kendall pulled back his arm, about to sock James in the money-maker, when his sister's voice called out from behind him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Kendall lowered his fist, and turned around. "Tell me," he began slowly, "why I shouldn't kill this one for ki-ki-having his lips all over you?"

Katie gently kicked the door closed with her foot, before she made her way closer to the band. "First, I wanted him to kiss me. Second, I'm sixteen; mom said that I can start dating at this age. You did, remember?"

"I don't think she meant dating someone who is six years older than you!" Kendall shrieked.

"That was never stated," Katie answered.

"I think it was implied!" Kendall responded, relatively hysterical.

Katie's eyes darkened as she stood in front of her older brother. "Kendall, I like James. So, I'm going to go out with him, whether you like it or not. And you do realize that if you stop this, I'll just go out and find someone who's a lot older and you won't have any idea who it is and what he'll do with me."

Kendall returned her glare, but his hardened look was marred with fear. Knowing his younger sister, she would keep her threat just to prove him wrong.

"Can I say something?" James hesitantly asked.

"No!" Both siblings replied, keeping their eyes locked on each other.

Kendall softened his look, somewhat. "You really like him?"

Katie gently smiled up at him. "I really do, big brother."

Kendall turned on his heel to glare at James.

James gulped audibly, "Hey buddy."

"I should kill you, right now." Kendall hissed, staring dauntingly at the taller man.

"Kendall," Katie warned from behind him, again.

Kendall sighed. He shook his head and looked at Logan, who had stood by, waiting to pull him away if he tried to murder James, Carlos on his other side.

"Logan, I want you to write up a contract."

"For what?" He arched an eyebrow.

Kendall made circling motion in front of him with his hand, "For whatever _this_ is." He started pacing, "It has to start with the agreement that they cannot do _anything_, until I get used to the idea."

"That's unfair, Kendall," Katie said.

"Katie, it's this or nothing," her brother replied, stopping in his tracks.

Katie crossed her arms defiantly, but she could see that her brother was unmoving. "You have one week to get used it."

"One year."

"Kendall."

"Six months."

"Kendall!"

"Fine, one month."

"Deal."

They ignored James' sputter of indignation.

Kendall nodded his head, before resuming his pacing. "You are not allowed to be in the same room as him, unsupervised."

"Don't be unreasonable, Kendall."

"Fine. You can't be alone with him in any of the bedrooms or the bathroom."

"Done. And ew," Katie added, conveying her disgust for Kendall's obvious train of thought. "But, this only lasts until I'm eighteen. I can choose what to do, when I'm an adult."

Kendall gritted his teeth, but nodded.

Logan was furiously writing everything down, in case he missed anything. He didn't want to have deal with either of the Knights' wrath.

"Anything else?" Katie added, sarcastically.

"I'll think of more," Kendall replied, smartly.

Carlos reminded everyone in the room of his presence with his next comment. "I'm hungry, do we have anything to eat?"

Kendall rolled his eyes, and walked into the kitchen to find his friend some food. Carlos in tow.

James leaned over and whispered to Katie, "What are you doing? One month of not doing anything? What's the point of going out?"

"James, he's my brother and your best friend. We need him on our side," Katie responded.

"Yeah, but I'm not even sure if he is on my side. He wants to kill me!"

Katie thought for a moment before shouting out, "You can't kill James!"

Kendall turned around at his sister's outburst.

"I want it in the contract that you can't kill James for going out with me."

After a minute of contemplation, Kendall replied, "Okay. But that doesn't mean that I can't ignore him forever."

Katie nodded, James nudged her. Katie pulled him aside. "Relax, Kendall can't hold a grudge against you. He has too much integrity for that."

James frowned. "Are you sure about this? It seems a little risky."

"Trust me on this. Now, don't worry, go comb your hair or something."

"You know, there are other things that are more important than my hair...not much, but there are."

Katie smirks, "He says as he combs his hair."

James looked at his hands and realized that he had subconsciously pulled out his comb. "Darn it!"

Kendall popped his head out of the kitchen again. "I also want it known that _you_, not him, benefits from this...thing. That means that you get your way, all the time." He gave James a dirty look before turning away.

Katie shrugged, "You know, I think I'm starting to really like this contract."

"What? I mean, come on, can't I win sometimes?" James whined.

"Eh, depends on how I feel," Katie shrugged again.

Logan caught sight of James' defeated look before scribbling something down, smiling wildly to himself.

Katie clapped her hands and went to grab her bag. "Well, I'm off. I have a ton of homework to do and some massive social networking to catch up on."

"What? You're not staying?" James asked, looking crestfallen.

Katie hopped over and patted his cheek affectionately, before remarking, "That's what you get for dating a younger girl." She giggled and tried to peer into the kitchen before sneaking a kiss on James' cheek.

"I saw that!" Kendall's voice called out from somewhere in the kitchen, irritated.

"Contract's not signed yet, big brother." Katie smiled at his lack of response. "Love you!"

They heard Kendall sigh, before yelling out defeatedly, "Love you, too."

Katie turned her attention back to James. "Listen, this month will go by fast. For now, you'll just have to live with supervised dates and minimal lip action."

James pouted, but nodded.

Katie smiled before bouncing out of the band's abode, leaving behind four confused men wondering if the events of the last hour really had just transpired.

Carlos started muttering from behind a mouthful of a turkey sandwich. "Wow, only day one, and already Katie's got you whipped."

Logan smirked from the counter, where he was going over the contract notes, "Are you kidding me? That girl's had us _all_ whipped since the day she was born."

Kendall appeared from the kitchen. "Yep, we're all a bunch of suckers for big, brown puppy-dog eyes." He hardened his glare, when James made movement, catching his eye. "I still hate you!" Kendall yelled childishly, before stomping off to his room.

James tossed up his hands, following the designated blond leader. "Come on, man. Can't we talk about this?"

Logan and Carlos chuckled.

Carlos stopped chewing, and looked up in alarm. "Hey, where'd you put Helmet?"

A buzzing sound started coming out of Carlos' back pocket. He pulled it out and saw that Katie had sent him a text:

_If you want to see your precious helmet again, STOP stalking me online! -Katie_

Carlos' scream startled everyone within a ten mile radius, all except Katie, who smiled wickedly to herself as she twirled the helmet around, heading home.

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A/N: Thanks so much for reading! I hoped you all enjoyed it!

As usual, I would love to hear your comments, so please leave a review!

Much Love,

D

*Not exactly sure why fanfiction isn't letting me type your username, but I hope you know who you are :)


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